April 11, 2017
Toutouwai test for Taranaki Mounga strategy
Fourteen North Island robins will be released on Mount Taranaki today to join the 36 delivered there on Sunday.
It’s part of an ambitious project by the Taranaki Mounga environmental project to bring birdsong back to the mountain, develop greater community engagement, and promote the concept of oranga mounga, oranga tangata, or healthy mountain, healthy nature.
Darryn Ratana, the partnerships manager for the Department of Conservation in New Plymouth, says the toutouwai were delivered from the Pureora Forest Park by Ngati Rereahu.
Other species will come later.
"The reason we chose North Island robins first is they are not endangered, they are very engaging with people so we put them out where people could look and observe them, and the learning we are able to gain from the species will enable us to prioritise the species that will be released in the future," Mr Ratana says.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH DARRYN RATANA
http://www.waateanews.com/play_podcast?podlink=NTI3Mjc=
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